Kismet NY Real Estate & Homes for Sale

Kismet’s long history of hospitality began in 1844 when lighthouse keeper Felix Dominy built the first hotel on Fire Island, the Dominy House, to serve as a summer hideaway for wealthy New York City dwellers. The area began as three small separate communities called Lighthouse Shores, Seabay Beach and Kismet proper. The areas merged and are now one beach community that attracts a great number of summer vacationers, daytrippers, boaters and group house sharers, whether singles, couples or families with children.

Local Area Information

Kismet is in the Town of Islip, Suffolk County, on the South Shore of Long Island, New York. It is the westernmost beach community on Fire Island, located between the Fire Island Lighthouse and Saltaire Village. Its limits are formed by the West Lighthouse Walk on the west and Seabay Walk on the east, areas that were once in separate communities before merging with Kismet. The shorelines are overlapped by the waters of the Great South Bay on the north and the Atlantic Ocean on the south.

Residential districts in the Kismet, NY 11706 ZIP code encompass about 300 dwellings, the majority of which are single-family homes. Many of these homes have quirky names, such as Bananas, Fishizzle, Margaritaville, or Tangled Up in Blue. There is a multifamily housing development in the area, a 20-unit waterfront condo/co-op building with marvelous water views of the bay. The year-round residents, though outnumbered by seasonal tourists during the summer, have a strong sense of community and are deeply involved in neighborhood affairs.

The heart of Kismet is its town center looking out on the Great South Bay and offering visitors hotel accommodations with splendid vistas of the lighthouse, bridge and boats on the bay. Right outside the hotel are two bayside restaurants with bars and grills and offering al fresco dining and nightlife. Also around this area is a pizzeria, wine store, small grocery shop with ATM, basketball court, playground, public tennis courts and commercial marinas where boaters flock in the summer.

The area is provided with fire protection and rescue services by the Kismet Fire Department volunteers and patrolled by the Marine Bureau of the Suffolk County Police Department with the US Coast Guard providing aerial and nautical support.

Kismet is about 45 miles southeast of Manhattan in New York City and accessible by a private boat or via the Fire Island Ferry services out of Bay Shore, NY. Those who feel like driving can take the Robert Moses Causeway, park at the Robert Moses Park Field 5 and hike east for about a half-hour to the community, passing by the Fire Island Lighthouse about halfway through.

General Information

Township: Town of Islip | Islip, New York

County: Suffolk County

Classification: Hamlet

LIRR Train Station/Schedule: MTA.info/lirr
The LIRR serves Kismet via the Bay Shore Station.
Travel time to Manhattan, Penn Station is about
1 hour 8 minutes to 1 hour 30 minutes.

Beaches & Parks

Kismet is a component of the 30-square-mile Fire Island National Seashore (FINS), which offers an assortment of summer recreational activities, such as swimming, surfing, kayaking, hiking, nature photography, ranger-guided programs and other special events. Beachcombing, birdwatching, botanizing, and sometimes even cross-country skiing may also be enjoyed in the winter. FINS consists of almost the entire island, from Fire Island Lighthouse to Smith Point County Park, and all the small communities in between, including Kismet.

The Robert Moses State Park is a beachfront location and one of Long Island’s significant tourist destinations, with almost five miles of white sand beaches facing the Atlantic Ocean. The park’s beaches are divided into sections and organized into Fields 2, 3, 4 and 5. The lifeguarded fields offer beach swimming, boogie-boarding, stand-up paddle boarding, surfing and surf-fishing, as well as private outdoor showers, restrooms, concession stands, marinas, first aid stations, and shops.

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